Toronto mayor pledges to get help for substance abuse

Toronto mayor Rob Ford

OTTAWA, May 1. /ITAR-TASS/. Toronto mayor Rob Ford intends to get a break from election campaign and to get treatment in a rehab to fight his substance addiction, according to a statement made by his campaign office.

“I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have tried to deal with these issues by myself over the past year. I know that I need professional help and I am now 100% committed to getting myself right”, Rob Ford said. He added: “I love the people of Toronto, I love being your mayor and I hope you will continue to stand by me.”

November 5, 2013, Ford has confessed about drug abuse. On Wednesday, April 30, Globe and Mail newspaper reported that its journalists discovered another video recording showing Toronto mayor smoking crack.

In May 2013, Canada’s Toronto Star newspaper and one of US-based online editions reported about a video recording, which showed the mayor smoking crack with a glass pipe. This triggered a row. Ford refused to resign then, claiming that there was no such tape.

However, chief of city police Bill Blair stated that his employees managed to find this file on one of the computers seized in the course of an anti-drug raid. The PC’s owners deleted the file, but experts managed to recover it. Reacting on these developments, Ford noted in an interview to a Toronto-based radio, without specifying, that he made mistakes and brings apologies to his relatives, colleagues and the city’s residents. However, he stressed that he did not intend to resign. In addition, he spoke in favor of making the video public.

After that, the politician said that he wanted to apologize and to go on with his professional duties.